UrbanTurf usually avoids publishing rankings or lists…except at the end of the year, when we look back at what DC’s residential real estate scene had to offer during the previous 12 months. This week, we revisit some of the best, most intriguing and peculiar things we came across over the course of 2018. Enjoy.

Rendering of South Tower, as viewed from Florida Avenue. Click to enlarge.

While the second phase of the Washington Gateway project in NoMa was originally intended as an office building, a modification filed this August put forth a markedly different vision: a 241-unit residential development with a "Trail Connection Lobby".

Schematic rendering of trail lobby. Click to enlarge.

This 15-story building will take advantage of its placement where the Metropolitan Branch Trail intersects with Florida Avenue NE (map) by turning part of its double-height lobby into a publicly-accessible amenity, complete with bike ramps, trail and neighborhood maps, water fountains, WiFi, an emergency call box and a bike repair area. An elevator large enough for two bikes and a stair with four bike troughs will minimize the grade change for cyclists using the lobby as a shortcut.

Rendering of trail lobby seen from plaza. Click to enlarge.

Designed by SK&I Architecture, the trail lobby will be publicly-accessible from 6am-midnight every day. While work continues to improve the MBT in Northeast, delivery of this development from landowner WMATA and developer MRP Realty seems poised to be a game-changer for local cyclists and pedestrians.